


Running Regrets

by MichaelLarkin



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Friendship, M/M, foxfam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-02 23:44:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10230719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichaelLarkin/pseuds/MichaelLarkin
Summary: It is Andrew's final year with the Foxes and both he and Neil are attempting to come to terms with what that means. Andrew is still learning that he is worth loving, and Neil is still learning to not run away. But what they really needed was someone to knock some sense into them; a role happily filled by their new freshmen goalkeeper, Robin Thompson.





	1. Rolled Ankles But No Regrets

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is set a year later. The second chapter is where the real story begins. The raring will probably go up as the story moves along!

He had done the stupid thing again. He had ran. He hadn't meant to, but the blood was pumping too fast in his veins. Adrenaline screaming. Death was coming. He had grown far too accustomed to Andrews presence in his room if not in his bed. His graduation and departure to his new team had hit Neil harder than he could have predicted.

He needed Andrew.

Needed Andrew on the court to have his back. 

Needed him in bed to guard him while he was sleeping.

Needed him to remind him that eating and sleeping are necessities.

Needed him hours ago to to stop him from running out again. 

He tried tugging on his own hoodie at the neck, wrapping his hand around the back of his skull. Pushing his head between his knees, but his own hands didn't fit right. 

No one was there telling him to 'breathe'

And now he was stuck in the middle of no where. His cell phone still plugged in beside his bed. Probably full of messages and at least one missed call from Andrew. They never talked about it, but whenever Neil woke up he always called Andrew, and Andrew always called at night to make sure Neil 'had kept his junky self alive that day. Did he at least eat something?' 

He had started running at 4:35am. It was now well past 8 in the morning, and beyond his normal time for calling Andrew. He was also late for morning drills with the new foxes. He should have stuck to his normal path, but the roads had felt too exposed for his nightmare drenched brain to deal with. So he had headed into the woods. Where he had quickly become lost in the dark, and had completely ran out of any luck he may have had an hour ago when he had tripped and rolled his ankle. 

In his stubbornness he had convinced himself the road was not that far, his ankle did not hurt that badly, and continued at a slow jog. His left ankle had now swelled up to three times its original size and could hold no weight at all, leaving him stranded. 

'Neiiiiiiilllll. Neil.' Wymack's voice echoed faintly. Neil responded 'I'm here' and they essentially played Marco Polo (the inane game Nicky and the foxes had forced him to play at the hotel pool over the summer) until Wymack stepped out from the brush finally finding Neil and sighed.

'Come on. Abby is already waiting in your room.'

The walk back was mercifully short. Neil somehow having made a circle back towards the dorms. They took the elevator and the doors opened to the dorms hallway filled with worried/annoyed foxes depending on where you looked. Neil's internal clock had been thrown off by the canopy of trees, and it was actually close to 11 by the time he and Wymack limped in. Neil was almost immediately distracted by a wall of thick dark hair as Robin tackled him in a hug. Before he could react she had released him only to punch him in the arm. 

'I promised Andrew to tell you what an idiot you are if you ran again. The punch was from me' before moving back towards the room. She no longer bothered asking him if he was hurt, knowing Neil's response would be 'I'm fine' to almost anything. Some habits are harder to break than others. Neil walked into his room expecting to find Abby's frequently overbearingly worried expression. What he didn't expect was the glowering face of one Andrew Minyard. 

'I thought you had stopped running.'

'I went on a run. I didn't mean to not come back.'

Andrews disinterested eyes widened slightly at the sight of his ankle. He moved allowing Abby to walk around him, who was already fussing before even seeing Neil's ankle. Her examination was short for once. Andrew breathing down your neck is a sensation you do not grow used to feeling. 'You rolled your ankle. You need to ice it and stay off of it for at least two days.' She looked at Robin and Andrew as she said the instructions. Neil was not consulted. He had attempted to mumble 'I'm fine' once at the beginning of her examination until collectively around the room sounds of frustration had erupted. Andrew had simply intensified his glare and added 3% onto his already ridiculous percentage.

Both Robin and Andrew nodded as Abby and Wymack walked out of the dorm. 'I will take over Neil sitting duties when you leave.' And with that Robin offered Andrew a fist pump he completed without taking his eyes off Neil. 'Later Cap'n O'Neil' ah the dreaded nickname. She was definitely annoyed with him for sneaking out without telling her and for leaving his phone. Again.

Neil begins to stand up to take off his sweaty clothes, so he can shower before going back to sleep. When he hears 'seriously are you this stupid all the time, or just I am around to witness it?' As Andrew pushes himself off the wall and shoves Neil back down on the bed as he kneels to pull of Neil's shoes and socks. 'Stay'

Andrew walks to the kitchen, grabs a chair and then drags it into the bathroom. Neil is baffled. He hears the water cut on as Andrew walks back out of the bathroom with his shirt stripped off. 'Yes or no' 

The yes comes out without hesitation as Andrew reaches for Neil's clothes, stripping them off quickly and efficiently. 'Put your arm around my shoulder. Lean on me.' As Andrew lifts him off the bed to limp to the bathroom, setting Neil on the chair. 

'Don't you have practice tomorrow?' Neil suddenly becomes worried over Andrew being here. "The last thing I want is to cause problems for you.'

Andrew scoffs and pointedly looks down at Neil's swollen ankle. 'You are my problem. I can't force you on anyone else.' Seeing Neil's still worried expression Andrew rolls his eyes and continues with 'I will leave tomorrow morning. You apparently have no problem waking up at 3am right?' With that he switched off the water and began drying Neil before heading back to the room. 

'So what do you want to do for the rest of the day' Neil asked and was met with a glare of pure ice from Andrew as if Neil were the stupidest person alive before he dryly stated 'keep you off your feet I guess' As Andrew began removing his own jeans and lying down beside Neil. His yes or- was quickly cut off by Neil's mouth. Maybe running this morning was not such a bad idea after all.


	2. Worry Will Only Cause Wrinkles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys this takes place one year earlier from chp 1, and the story will continue from this point!

Neil was worried, which was not an unusual emotion for him. After captaining the Foxes for two years and proving his continued worth to the Moriyamas every game; worry was a constant companion.

Neil was exceptionally worried this year though, because Andrew had agreed to go pro. If, for nothing else, to keep a close eye on Kevin and Neil. Neil was not anxious about Andrew getting offers. No one could deny Andrew as the best goal keeper in the league. 

Neil stressed over Andrew being alone.

Andrew might never admit it out loud but Neil knew how important having his family close was to the man. He knew by the way Andrew's shoulders tensed whenever Nicky began excitedly chattering about Germany. Never noticing how Nicky always looks over at him hopefully, wanting support when he mentions breaks and vacations together. 

And whenever Aaron mentioned med school, Andrew simply left the room. He blamed it on 'the cheerleader breathing making him reach for his knives' but Neil knew the truth. Andrew was not ready to let his family go. 

Which of course was further complicated by losing so many people all at once. Kevin had signed with the L.A. Jets (ranked 4th nationally, seemed to Neil that Kevin also had an affinity for the underdogs((a comment he had of course made to the press at Kevin's official signing causing Kevin to throw the pen at him, Andrew to smirk, and Wymack to noticeably not lecture Neil on appropriate things to tell the press))). When Kevin had moved out of the dorm and firmly shook Andrew's hand on the promise of seeing him on the court again next year, it seemed to be the first moment Andrew had realized Kevin was no longer going to be in choking distance.

It was no longer going to be Andrew's responsibility to pull Kevin off the floor when he has one of his 'Raven moments' and dump him in his bed. There would be no one to watch history documentaries and then lecture on what they had gotten wrong. No one to yell about Andrew's diet... 

Neil had found Andrew on the roof during Kevin's going away party holding a cigarette with a bottle a vodka resting by his leg. When Neil had dared to say "it's okay to miss him." Andrew had stubbed the cigarette out and calmly told Neil that he only regretted not having someone for Neil to blather on about exy with, because 'who will compete with you for greatest exy junkie ever' before pulling on Neil's shirt and distracting him with 'yes or no.'

But Neil had not been able to forget Andrew's expression, and how he sometimes glared at their wall calendar as if it was to blame for time continuing to run away from him. For time taking his family away from him.

Andrew had finally found a family that wanted him, flaws and all, and their lives were now getting in the way of that. And soon time would be the cause of something Andrew had never experienced before. Andrew being the one to leave.

There are many things that Neil and Andrew each have as off limits topics. After Aaron's court case Neil would never ask about the moment she (Neil never says her name) touched Andrew's arm and opened her mouth as if to say something, before her face crumpled and she turned around and walked away. ((And when Neil was particularly obsessive with marking Andrew's neck that night he knew Andrew was not okay until he looked in the dorms mirror three day later and said 'if you want to pretend to be a vampire at least finish the damn job' before throwing on a scarf and leaving for class.)) And Andrew knew to never comment on why Neil flinches just a little too hard whenever a female comments on their relationship. Especially the one time Dan had yelled at them to stop flirting and get back to practice. 

But nothing quite compared to both of their resistance to mention the looming May graduation date in a years time. The day Andrew would be leaving Neil. It was easy to say they were going to stay together. That 'this' was it for both of them, but it was harder to admit that being apart was an ordeal neither wanted to face. Since Baltimore the longest time they had spent apart was a week (5 nights 6 days to be exact) and it was fur to another event neither of them spoke about. 

Beyond that incident there was the occasional weekend where Neil went to visit one of the girls when Andrew was feeling particularly anti-outsiders and that was it. They were very rarely out of each other's line of sight ((outside of classes and Andrew's appointments with Bee)) much less across the country from one another.

Which compounded onto Neil's other worry, because Andrew was not great at making friends. And Neil could not imagine being okay with Andrew being on a team full of people who didn't understand him. He didn't want Andrew to exist in a place where everyone only saw him as 'monster' again. Andrew may have protected Neil his first year, but they had protected each other ever since. 

"Uh... Captain? Neil? Dude? You alive in there?"

Neil was shaken out of his own thoughts by the woman standing in front of him. She was 5'6, muscular, and with a thick mane of unruly dark hair. Robin Thompson, their new freshman goalkeeper. Neil had been put in charge of picking her up from the airport. This was perhaps the friendliest greeting he had ever received from a freshmen recruit.

"You can call me Neil. No one calls me Captain." 

A wicked smirk turned up the left corner of her mouth, matching a nose that had clearly been broken at least once ((from reading her file Neil knew it had been broken three times)) and freckles that crossed the bridge of her nose across her cheeks. "How about Cap'n O'Neil?!"

"... that's not my name." Neil was sure it was a reference he was supposed to understand, but so far Robin had proven to be the most disarming recruit he had met. From reading her file he was expecting a sullen, angsty, angry teen and instead was sent to meet with the equivalent of a firecracker.

"Hmm slow on jokes. We will work on that." Before tossing her carry on at Neil's face and lifting her other bag on top of her shoulder, wheeling a midsize suitcase behind her and heading towards the exit. "You coming" was thrown over a shoulder and Neil was hard pressed to know whether or not it was a question or just merely a statement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the story is mostly going to from Neil's pov occasionally going to Andrew or Robins. Anyway let me know what you think!!


	3. And He Walks With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carpool karaoke has never seen this level of drama before.

Neil followed Robin a moment later still thrown by the unexpected greeting. Though he could potentially check one thing off his list of worries, Robin was definitely going to capable of handling herself against the Foxes-

"No"- well most of the foxes anyway. Neil arrived at the Maserati to witness a stalemate between Robin and Andrew. A still smoking cigarette was laying on the asphalt by the driver side door were Andrew had been leaning, waiting on Neil and the new one. Neil had long since given up on Andrew referring to any of the new foxes by name. Neil knew that Andrew knew them. The asshole had an eidetic memory, but on the court Andrew would just lob the ball their ankles with maybe a "Hey shithead." If they were very lucky.

"I have longer legs than both of you midgets stacked together."

Most of them were not lucky. Neil heaved a sigh as the stare down of the century occurred outside of the car. Neil walked to the back and tossed Robin's last duffle in the trunk. Neil then opened the back door on the passenger side and got in. Robin took advantage of Andrew's momentary distraction when tracking Neil's movement and moved lightning fast to pop open the door, hip check Andrew out of way, and climb into the front seat.

Andrew at a loss stared through window for a moment before lighting another cigarette, shutting the trunk, and getting into the drivers seat. To show his annoyance with Neil he pushed the volume up over 30 cause the base to shake and Neil's eardrums to vibrate. 

However Andrew's plans were made ineffective by Robin's response. Completely unperturbed by Andrew's violent sulk she had rolled the window down, resting one arm outside, and began to sing along to the radio. Andrew seemed in shock by this stupid creature refusing to be cowed by his glower. In response to her still cheerful demeanor Andrew changed the radio station, which began another stalemate between the two goalkeepers. This one even more epic than the last, because no matter what station Andrew turned the radio on, Robin knew the song. And each time he changed the station she simply sang louder.

Within 15 minutes Andrew had flown through 40 radio stations, smoked 2 cigarettes, and had settled onto the one radio station not playing music. Robin to Andrew's immense displeasure seemed to fund his tantrum more amusing than threatening, and appeared to find the gospel lesson just as pleasing as the music. Andrew at least settled into the small victory her silence provided when the preacher stopped and the choir started to sing. Andrew's shoulders immediately balled up and it looked as if he was physically restraining himself from looking at Robin when-

"AND HE WALKS WITH ME. AND HE TALKS WITH ME. AND HE-"

"God damn it" burst out of Andrew breaking his silence and causing Robin to laugh. Andrew once again was thrown. Neil had to wonder when anyone had laughed at Andrew's anger since he became a Fox and Neil could only remember himself doing so. But here was this new Fox laughing into the face of danger.

"You are just too easy. How do you live if you get annoyed with everything so easily." Came from Robin finally ending her chuckles.

"I've built up a tolerance." Before Andrew turned the radio back to its original station and dropped the volume to 15. Maybe Neil had been wrong about Robin not being able to handle all the foxes. 

She was the first freshmen to climb out of the Maserati at the Palmetto stadium not traumatized, shaking, and one of the few not to be in tears. Dan questioned Wymack on why he allowed Neil and Andrew to pick up the newbies and Wymack's response had been "If they can't survive a car ride, how are they supposed to last a season?" 

Whenever they arrived Wymack met them at the gate and asks "How was the drive?"

While checking the new fox for stab wounds or an immediate meeting with Bee. Neil's response was always the same "Fine" and Andrew had too responses that never failed to prove to be accurate. Either he was silent, and the player turned out to be a good addition to the team, or he responded "A waste of time" meaning Wymack was in for trouble.

Robin was removing her exy bag from the trunk when Wymack asked. For the first time he receives new answers.

"Interesting."

"You may survive next season after all." It was hard to decide who was more shocked by Andrew's slightly positive response, Neil or Wymack. But once again Robin seemed completely unconcerned. She simply brushed past Neil and Wymack and followed Andrew onto the court. She turned over her shoulder at the last moment to say "Nice to meet you coach" with a vicious grin before stepping behind the glass doors. 

Neil and Wymack stood agog, watching as Robin followed Andrew in a warmup jog. Nicky popped up beside Wymack and looked at the two jogging with a groan "No practice doesn't start until tomorrow. What is happening. This is supposed to just be a meeting!"

Wymack still staring at the court shrugged seeming to snap out of his daze "Gear up. Out on the court in 15." He had learned long ago to take what he could get from Andrew and he was not about to throw away the opportunity of an Andrew actually volunteering to practice. 

"God whyyyyy" as Nicky stormed off to the locker room. He had only gotten back from Germany yesterday and the combination of jet lag and missing Eric was turning his already dramatic persona to extra. Neil stayed outside the glass though watching the two goal keepers. 

Neil still did not know what to make of Robin Thompson, but for the first time he thought he thought that might be a good thing. Neil stepped onto the court, not bothering to change to join the two for their second lap before they would put on their gear. 

"What would you do if the zombie apocalypse happened tomorrow?" Burst out of Neil's mouth the moment they came within hearing distance. Robin took the question in stride, considering it, before responding "I would break into Disney world, close off all the gates, and live in the happiest place on earth."

"Would you take anyone with you?"

"Yes." Neil waited for further explanation, but none was forthcoming.

"Okay."

"Okay Cap'n O'Neil anymore psych evals I need to pass before I can move in with the two of you." Which was the first comment to catch Andrew's attention. His shoulders immediately tensed and he threw an incredulous look Neil's way before scoffing turning around and walking to the other side of the court and outside the door to sit in the bleachers. 

"Shit." Neil had been putting off telling Andrew they would have to have a new roommate for weeks now, because not sharing a room had been very nice. Neil had not wanted to burst the bubble, but now he was definitely in for it.

"Something I said?" As Robin also came to a stand still beside Neil. Neil began to wonder if anything got under her skin as she shrugged and then continued jogging. She appeared to need nothing and no one to be happy. Yet she was something, not the nothing he had been when he had arrived. He wondered where she hid all her secrets. And how she kept them pushed down so well.

Neil may have been a liar when he arrived at the court, but he had been a broken and sad one. Begging for Andrew to break him open and make him feel. Robin did not seem to have that desire. She had healed her own wounds and seemed to be thriving with no help but her own. 

Neil wondered just how much of that confidence was an act.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Let me know what you think Robin is hiding. Do you like her character so far?? Kudos and comments are the best!!! :D Also there will probably be some smut in the next chapter, so the rating will go up.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on tumblr as @sinbinwithfoxesin I would love to hear from everyone! And please leave comments! It is the nicest feeling in the world :D


End file.
